OFF! (CD)

OFF!

Amoeba Review

Sixteen songs, sixteen minutes. That’s the kind of no-bullshit aesthetic hardcore punk outfit Off! goes by, and thankfully the tunes are as great as they are short. “Wiped Out” is a new anthem for the short-attention span generation, as it doesn’t waste a second, all great riffs and cool talk-singing and screaming. If the hairpin-turn riffs of “Man From Nowhere” and screaming perfection of “Borrow and Bomb” seem like they were concocted in a punk laboratory, they should — Off! counts among its players former members of Black Flag, Redd Kross and Rocket from the Crypt, among other punk greats. Most songs whirl by before you even realize what’s hit you, but any complaint about the matter can be directed toward the lyrics of Off!’s “Cracked” — “Are you kidding? We were playin’ too fast? Have you been smokin’ pot, or is your head up your ass?”